0:00:03 > 0:00:06When we live in a house, we're just passing through.
0:00:08 > 0:00:09People have occupied it before us
0:00:09 > 0:00:13and others will take our place when we leave.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17100 human dramas played out in every room.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23Every house in Britain has a story to tell but, in this series,
0:00:23 > 0:00:27I'm going to uncover the secret life of just one -
0:00:27 > 0:00:29a single town house here in Liverpool.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39A city that rivalled New York in the 19th century,
0:00:39 > 0:00:43yet, 100 years later, was one of the poorest places in Europe.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49In many ways, 62 Falkner Street is an ordinary house but,
0:00:49 > 0:00:53as I'll show you, in reality it is an amazing treasure trove.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56Cos he leaves them not just £100,
0:00:56 > 0:00:59but also number 62 Falkner Street.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02In March 1885, again in this house,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05"Grabbed her by the throat and assaulted her."
0:01:05 > 0:01:09The life that you can see recorded in these old documents
0:01:09 > 0:01:11is extraordinary.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Delving into the archives, I'll use the personal histories
0:01:14 > 0:01:15of the residents of this house
0:01:15 > 0:01:20to reveal the story of Britain over almost 200 years.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24It's a period of seismic social change,
0:01:24 > 0:01:27from the early years of Victoria's reign...
0:01:28 > 0:01:30..right through to the present day.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38In this episode, a terrifying disease stalks the house.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42Lives are wrecked by domestic violence and adultery.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46"This affair had been conducted at the Hanover Hotel,
0:01:46 > 0:01:48"Hanover Street, Liverpool."
0:01:48 > 0:01:51And a mysterious body is pulled from the Mersey.
0:01:51 > 0:01:52"A man unknown."
0:01:54 > 0:01:57I'm going on the ultimate detective hunt to uncover lives
0:01:57 > 0:02:00that haven't been recorded in the history books,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04but which can tell us a new version of our nation's past,
0:02:04 > 0:02:08a new history of Britain hidden within the walls of a single house.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Welcome to 62 Falkner Street.
0:02:27 > 0:02:28It's a busy family home.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36So far, we know it was constructed as one of a terrace in 1840.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43In its first decades, the door number wasn't 62, it was 58.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50It was designed to appeal to the rapidly growing middle classes,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53in an upmarket, new neighbourhood.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58But this oasis of privilege was just a mile down the road
0:02:58 > 0:03:01from the city's lifeblood - the docks.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Here, trade and wealth
0:03:06 > 0:03:09rubbed shoulders with some of the most extreme poverty in the country.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20We left the house in 1853.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Cotton broker Wilfred Steel had just moved out.
0:03:26 > 0:03:27Who would be the next resident?
0:03:30 > 0:03:33To find out, I'm going to delve deep into the archives.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37If you know where to look, official records,
0:03:37 > 0:03:39old newspapers and court documents
0:03:39 > 0:03:41hide clues about the past inhabitants
0:03:41 > 0:03:43of every home in Britain.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50But, in Liverpool, there's also a unique, local source.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52This is Gore's Directory.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55Believe it or not, this is the Victorian equivalent
0:03:55 > 0:03:57of a search engine.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00It lists all the businesses and all the businessmen in Liverpool
0:04:00 > 0:04:03by street, by surname and by the type of business,
0:04:03 > 0:04:07and this was updated and re-published every couple of years.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11And it tells us that the new resident of the house is...
0:04:12 > 0:04:14..one John Bowes.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Now, that's all this directory can tell us.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19So we still need to find out who he was,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23what sort of job he did and who else is living in the house with him.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27The census reveals more.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31It captures John just four years earlier living nearby.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37So, this document tells us that John Bowes is married,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40that his wife is Elizabeth Bowes.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45And it also gives us his profession down here as brewer's agent.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Which means he's selling alcohol.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53As an agent, John was the public face of a brewery,
0:04:53 > 0:04:55convincing people to buy more beer.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00At other times, he also sold wine and spirits.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04He picked a great town to be plying his trade.
0:05:04 > 0:05:081850s Liverpool had a reputation for heavy drinking.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13John most likely went all across town selling beer everywhere
0:05:13 > 0:05:15from the most exclusive hotels
0:05:15 > 0:05:18and poshest houses, to the hundreds of pubs
0:05:18 > 0:05:21in the poverty-stricken streets behind the docks.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27To live in such an expensive and desirable house,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30John must have been earning far more than the average worker
0:05:30 > 0:05:32could ever have dreamed of
0:05:32 > 0:05:35and I think we need to picture this couple able to enjoy
0:05:35 > 0:05:39all the trappings of the respectable, Victorian,
0:05:39 > 0:05:40middle-class life.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45In fact, John and Elizabeth's new house
0:05:45 > 0:05:49was the ideal place to entertain and impress potential business clients.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55We think it had kitchen and a scullery in the basement
0:05:55 > 0:05:57with a fresh water supply.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03A dining room, morning room and a flushing toilet on the ground floor.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10A grand drawing room and master bedroom
0:06:10 > 0:06:11with en-suite bathroom above.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17And an upper floor for servants -
0:06:17 > 0:06:19most middle-class homes had one or two.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Researching how people in the past lived in houses like this
0:06:24 > 0:06:26has been the life's work
0:06:26 > 0:06:31of design historian Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34If I were visiting John and Elizabeth Bowes in the 1850s,
0:06:34 > 0:06:39I would be let into the house by a maid, not Elizabeth.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44I would be led along the hall, past the front room, the dining room,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46up the stairs to the first floor.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52And the drawing room is, of course, the best room in the house.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56When Elizabeth and John Bowes were living here,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59this would have been the formal drawing room.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01It would have felt like a very feminine room
0:07:01 > 0:07:04and it would have very much been Elizabeth's domain.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10The central feature would have been the fireplace.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15So we would have had a really grand fireplace.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20This would have very much been a room kept for best,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23to really show John's status and wealth.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31This middle-aged couple seem to be well-settled in their new home.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39This is the 1857 directory and, when I look up 58 Falkner Street,
0:07:39 > 0:07:44what I find is that only Elizabeth Bowes is listed.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46There's no mention of John.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Now, the couple only moved in here in 1854,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54so it's a bit sudden and a bit of a mystery as to why John
0:07:54 > 0:07:57seems to have disappeared.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09This document provides the answer.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11It's a death certificate.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15It shows that John Bowes died on 15th September 1854.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20So, not long after he's begun his new life in Falkner Street.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23And it gives the cause of death as being the disease
0:08:23 > 0:08:28that the Victorians feared more than any other - cholera.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39John was one of 20,000 people to die in a cholera epidemic that ravaged
0:08:39 > 0:08:41Britain in 1854.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44It's a terrible way to die.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhoea
0:08:46 > 0:08:49are followed by severe dehydration.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53Even a perfectly healthy person can be killed by cholera
0:08:53 > 0:08:54in a matter of hours.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59But the surprising thing to me is this disease was associated with
0:08:59 > 0:09:03the dirt and squalor of poverty in Victorian times.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05I want to find out how John -
0:09:05 > 0:09:09well off, with an upmarket home - could have died of it.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12Professor Sally Sheard
0:09:12 > 0:09:15is a leading historian on health in 19th-century Liverpool.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20John Bowes and the other residents of Falkner Street must have thought,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23even though they could see cholera coming,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26that they were going to be safer - they were in a cleaner part of town,
0:09:26 > 0:09:28they were up on the hill.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32Absolutely, the whole idea of disease transmission
0:09:32 > 0:09:36at this time is that it's done by miasmas, by bad gases.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40So they're convinced that all diseases are the result of smell.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42So, the further away you can get from smell...
0:09:42 > 0:09:46- The safer you are.- ..the safer, in theory, you should be.
0:09:46 > 0:09:47So, this map is later,
0:09:47 > 0:09:51but the earlier epidemics would have looked pretty much the same.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54What you see on this map are the red dots,
0:09:54 > 0:10:00which are cholera deaths, and there is a really clear pattern here.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04There's a real cluster around here, down towards the docks,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08in the poorest, working-class parts of Liverpool.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11But the interesting thing is that around Falkner Street
0:10:11 > 0:10:16and this Georgian quarter, there are very few cholera deaths.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23Could this cluster be the clue to John's death?
0:10:23 > 0:10:26This warren of streets contained many of the town's pubs.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28We can't know for sure,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31but it is likely John would have come here to sell beer.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35Down here, very poor-quality housing.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39You might have 10, 20 families using one cesspit privy
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and the cesspit would only be emptied maybe once a year.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44So you can imagine the smell.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Perhaps John took precautions to protect himself from bad smells,
0:10:50 > 0:10:52but it would have been for nothing.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Because what he didn't know - what almost no-one knew at the time -
0:10:57 > 0:10:58was that cholera wasn't coming
0:10:58 > 0:11:01from the stench of human waste in the air.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06It was coming from waste seeping into the water.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10When he stops and has a drink of water,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13he doesn't understand that that's the real risk?
0:11:13 > 0:11:16No, he wouldn't have understood it as being a water-borne disease.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18So, when the news that John Bowes,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21the gentleman at number 58, had died of cholera,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25there must have been a moment of real fear in the street.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27I'm sure there was, yeah.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29I think the sense would have been, "Well, if he can die,
0:11:29 > 0:11:31"then none of us are safe up here."
0:11:36 > 0:11:40The threat of this horrendous disease was just one of the fears
0:11:40 > 0:11:42facing John's wife, Elizabeth.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46The sudden death of her husband
0:11:46 > 0:11:49meant she was now alone in their new house.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54We can find no evidence that John left her any money.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58She was 54 years old, with no obvious way of earning a living.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03I've tracked her down in the census from 1861,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06seven years after her husband died.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10What this tells us is that Elizabeth is still in Falkner Street,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14but now she lists her occupation as lodging house keeper.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Now, this was by far the best option available to Elizabeth -
0:12:19 > 0:12:22a widow in the middle of the 19th century -
0:12:22 > 0:12:26because she has a big house in a fashionable part of town
0:12:26 > 0:12:27and it's in a port town.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32It's in a city in which there are constantly people coming and going,
0:12:32 > 0:12:33and in need of somewhere to stay.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37So, thanks, really, to the house,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41she's able to have a grip, a tenuous grip, on middle-class life.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48The adverts that Elizabeth placed in the local newspapers still exist.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52"Apartments to be let.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55"To be let, a front sitting room
0:12:55 > 0:12:57"with two or three bedrooms or partial board
0:12:57 > 0:12:59"for two or three young gentlemen."
0:13:00 > 0:13:03It's interesting that she doesn't want a family,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06she obviously wants young men who are unattached,
0:13:06 > 0:13:08who don't have children.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12And what she would have offered them would be the drawing room here
0:13:12 > 0:13:14to use as a communal space.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18She would have kept the back room, the morning room,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21for herself as her own space.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24This would have been quite a change for Elizabeth.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29And, all of a sudden, this space was no longer hers,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32but was inhabited by these young men.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38The drawing room would have been the place where they pursued things
0:13:38 > 0:13:40like card games, smoking,
0:13:40 > 0:13:45drinking, and it accumulated this clutter of masculinity.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50I think Elizabeth may have been rather lonely in this set-up,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53because although the income the young men brought
0:13:53 > 0:13:55would have been very welcome to her,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59in some senses, she'd lost her status as mistress of the house,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03because she was occupying this very peculiar position
0:14:03 > 0:14:08where she was undertaking some paid work as a landlady
0:14:08 > 0:14:11and, of course, the lady of the house was supposed to be
0:14:11 > 0:14:13a lady of leisure.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21Elizabeth was seeking lodgers in a booming rental market.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25She had some competition from other landladies in the street.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29But there were still plenty of tenants to go around.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33The town's population was expanding.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Over 10,000 ships a year were using the port.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44And it seems Elizabeth's advertisements paid off.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47The 1861 census reveals the house is full.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52One of the three lodgers shown living with her in this document
0:14:52 > 0:14:55is a 25-year-old named Edward Lublin.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00By tracing Edward's family tree, we've found this image,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04believed to be him, taken around the year he lived in the house.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08This is the first time I've seen a photograph of one of the residents
0:15:08 > 0:15:10of our house on Falkner Street.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14It came from a branch of Edward's family now living in Australia,
0:15:14 > 0:15:18but that's not where he himself started out.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22What's interesting about Edward Lublin is his place of birth,
0:15:22 > 0:15:24which is listed here as Nakskov.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Now, I'd never heard of that and I think we can be pretty sure
0:15:27 > 0:15:30that the census officer in 1861 hadn't heard of it either,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34because he writes it down and then he puts a question mark beside it,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36as if he thinks he's misheard.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38But it's a small town in southern Denmark.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41And he won't have been that surprised to have encountered a Dane
0:15:41 > 0:15:45on Falkner Street, because, around that point, there was a huge wave
0:15:45 > 0:15:49of immigration from the Scandinavian countries.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Now, today Denmark and Sweden are famous as being
0:15:52 > 0:15:56some of the wealthiest and happiest societies in the world,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59but, in the 1860s, their economies were in real trouble.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07Arriving as a young migrant, Edward found a ready-made community.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11He was Jewish and became a member
0:16:11 > 0:16:14of the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19The house was just a ten-minute walk to their synagogue on Seel Street.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Here, Edward met some of the town's Jewish community,
0:16:28 > 0:16:30around 2,000-strong.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36Many were shop owners or merchants.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40But I want to find out what Edward was up to.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45By searching for Edward's name in the advertisements in the Liverpool
0:16:45 > 0:16:48press, we can piece together how he was making his living.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56He was a ship broker and frantically busy selling space for cargo
0:16:56 > 0:16:59on vessels going to and from ports all over Europe.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Anything could be moved in these holds, from gunpowder,
0:17:06 > 0:17:08to wool, to bricks, to gold.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18But, as well as selling space, he was also selling goods,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21because here's an advertisement where he is selling
0:17:21 > 0:17:25railway and colliery grease - that's grease from the mining industry -
0:17:25 > 0:17:29white sulphate of ammonia and lubricating oils.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32These items may sound a bit niche,
0:17:32 > 0:17:35but they tell us that Edward was trying his luck in one of the most
0:17:35 > 0:17:38exciting markets of the 1860s...
0:17:40 > 0:17:41..steam trains.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46The very first railway had opened just 35 years earlier.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50And by the time Edward was in business,
0:17:50 > 0:17:54a network of tracks had been built across the country.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Thousands of locomotives carried passengers and freight every day.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Like those now preserved at the East Lancashire Railway...
0:18:04 > 0:18:06..where Paul McManus is a volunteer.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10- Hi.- Hi. You look like you would be able to tell me
0:18:10 > 0:18:13what it is that Edward Lublin is trading in here.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18This is railway and colliery grease, and lubricating oils.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20How are they used on locomotives like this?
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Any moving part on the locomotive requires
0:18:24 > 0:18:27a certain amount of lubrication.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30Everything that you see that moves needs oil.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33So the lubricants are used on a daily basis?
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Yes, every day. Depending on the distance that the locomotive
0:18:37 > 0:18:41was travelling, you could use three, four, five, six gallons,
0:18:41 > 0:18:43depending on distances.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46- Really?- Yes.- That's every day?
0:18:46 > 0:18:48- Every day, yes.- So this isn't like your car,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51where you put in some oil when you remember every few months?
0:18:51 > 0:18:53- No.- Somebody like Edward Lublin dealing in these lubricants
0:18:53 > 0:18:56would never have been short of customers, would he?
0:18:56 > 0:18:58No, never. Never.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00He's in a very good market,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04a very good niche, and it will just continue to grow.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06So I would imagine he'd become very rich.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21By getting involved in the supply chain behind the railways,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Edward Lublin was staking a small claim in what was perhaps
0:19:25 > 0:19:29the most dynamic and the most important industry of his age.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33Because, increasingly, it was the railway that carried the goods
0:19:33 > 0:19:35that landed in Liverpool around the country.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43TRAIN WHISTLE BLASTS
0:19:45 > 0:19:46That was wonderful.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54But Edward wasn't all about hard work.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58While his business was taking off, he also had a personal life.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03The synagogue would have been a central pillar of his world.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08The congregation he belonged to still exists.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10Now it's on Princes Road.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13- David.- Hi.- Pleased to meet you.
0:20:13 > 0:20:14- Come in.- Thank you.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17Senior warden Saul Marks is well-versed
0:20:17 > 0:20:19in the community's history.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23- If I can just ask you to pop that on.- Great.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29The synagogue's archive reveals Edward met a young woman
0:20:29 > 0:20:30named Esther Benas.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33In 1865, they got married.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35The bride was 18 years old.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38Do you know much about this couple?
0:20:38 > 0:20:41I can tell you a bit - I can tell you quite a bit, in fact.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44They were married at Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46which is where we are.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49This is actually the congregational marriage register.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51So if we look in here...
0:20:55 > 0:20:58- There we go.- Oh! So this is the original.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01This is their signatures on the page.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Where does the Benas family stand in this community?
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Well, the Benas family is one of the most prominent families
0:21:07 > 0:21:11in the community. They were particularly wealthy,
0:21:11 > 0:21:13they were very well set.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17The wedding of this well-known family's eldest daughter
0:21:17 > 0:21:21to Edward Lublin was written up in the local press
0:21:21 > 0:21:24as a kind of general interest piece.
0:21:24 > 0:21:25It's entitled "A Jewish Marriage."
0:21:25 > 0:21:27I'll read it out to you, if you like.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30"The Jewish mode of marrying, as most people are aware,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33"is a very extraordinary one and peculiarly solemn.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37"The bride was dressed in a most chaste and beautiful manner,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40"and elicited the admiration of everyone who saw her."
0:21:40 > 0:21:42She comes from a good family, she's got a good wedding dress,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44she looks the part.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47"The Rabbi after this again prayed and chanted a hymn."
0:21:47 > 0:21:51And we actually have recordings of the hymns that would have been sung.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53So, in some ways,
0:21:53 > 0:21:56you can actually feel like you were there at the wedding.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01CEREMONIAL HYMN SUNG BY CHOIR
0:22:16 > 0:22:19At the conclusion of the ceremony, the Reverend, Mr Prague,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22addressed a few remarks to the newly married pair
0:22:22 > 0:22:24saying to the couple,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28"We're relying on you to build a Jewish home, to stay together -
0:22:28 > 0:22:32"you are the next generation of Jews in Liverpool."
0:22:32 > 0:22:34And it actually says here,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38"The remarks of the Rabbi were feelingly and solemnly expressed
0:22:38 > 0:22:41"and the eyes of the fair bride were not the only ones
0:22:41 > 0:22:43"that were filled with tears."
0:22:43 > 0:22:48So, at this moment, Edward Lublin has really become a full member
0:22:48 > 0:22:51- of this community in this city? - Yes, absolutely.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55He is, he's married into one of most well-known families.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57- And a wealthy family?- Yes.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03Edward's rented rooms at the house weren't right for the newlyweds.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08But perhaps Esther and Edward liked Falkner Street,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12because they set up home just a few doors down at number 82.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16Within a year, they had a baby daughter
0:23:16 > 0:23:18and two more swiftly followed.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25Judging by the newspapers, Edward was busier than ever at work.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29For an ambitious Victorian man in his 30s, life was going well.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34But, then, something seems to change.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43What I've got here is an article from The Times
0:23:43 > 0:23:46and what it reveals is that Edward Lublin,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49who, on the surface, was an astute
0:23:49 > 0:23:51and adaptable businessman,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54got into financial trouble back in 1869
0:23:54 > 0:23:57when he racked up debts of £12,000.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03Now, he appears to have come to some sort of gentleman's agreement
0:24:03 > 0:24:06with his creditors. It says "a private arrangement".
0:24:06 > 0:24:08And that would allow him to stay in business.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13With a growing family to support, and creditors on his back,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17it seems to me Edward must have been under enormous pressure.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22His trading partners were mainly in France.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26To get back on his feet, Edward desperately needed to
0:24:26 > 0:24:29communicate with them quickly and reliably.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32And, for that, he needed the electric telegraph.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37By the 1860s, thousands of miles of telegraph wire
0:24:37 > 0:24:39snaked around the globe.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Messages could be sent round the planet in minutes.
0:24:43 > 0:24:44But, in the archives,
0:24:44 > 0:24:48I've discovered Edward was having issues with this technology.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52I've come to Milton Keynes Museum to meet Bill Griffiths,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56an expert on Victorian communications, to find out more.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01If I may, I'd like to read a letter that Edward Lublin sent
0:25:01 > 0:25:04to one of the Liverpool newspapers in 1870.
0:25:04 > 0:25:05Cos what he says is,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08"Sir, permit me through the medium of your paper
0:25:08 > 0:25:11"to make complaint of the present telegraphic system.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14"It seems that instead of the promised efficiency
0:25:14 > 0:25:17"in the transmission and delivery of telegrams,
0:25:17 > 0:25:19"the rule is greater delay.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22"I suffer prejudice and loss.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26"I am, Sir, yours respectfully, Edward Lublin."
0:25:26 > 0:25:28He sounds like me. I'm almost in tears
0:25:28 > 0:25:30with half an hour without Wi-Fi.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32And he sounds frustrated here.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35From this, I deduce that the telegraph
0:25:35 > 0:25:38is absolutely critical to Edward's business.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Yes, I think it must be likened to the internet today,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44and the mobile phone, and all the things that we think
0:25:44 > 0:25:46are wonderful and have changed our lives.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49And I think people saw this as a great way
0:25:49 > 0:25:51of expanding their business.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54All of a sudden, they could communicate with each other.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56And Edward's problem here is that this has
0:25:56 > 0:25:58a real business implication,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01that it's not working or it didn't work for one day.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Yes. I mean, information was key.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07People could gain an advantage by just having an hour or two
0:26:07 > 0:26:10so they could clinch the deal over someone else.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13And if they lost that advantage, other people would beat them.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16Someone would buy it from somewhere else. So it really was important.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20As Edward battled to keep his business afloat,
0:26:20 > 0:26:23he was hit by another circumstance beyond his control.
0:26:27 > 0:26:33In 1873, in America, an investment bubble in the railroads burst,
0:26:33 > 0:26:35triggering a run on the banks
0:26:35 > 0:26:38and major panic on the New York Stock Exchange.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45This was followed by a period that the Victorians called
0:26:45 > 0:26:47the Great Depression.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49A name it held in popular memory
0:26:49 > 0:26:52until the crisis of the 1930s took that title.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Even under these circumstances,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58he might have been able to keep his head above water
0:26:58 > 0:27:03but what it looks like is that he keeps on taking financial risks.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07And, in 1875, he's declared bankrupt and he loses everything.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14For a proud Victorian businessman, this must have been a terrible blow.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18And, at home, his relationship with Esther
0:27:18 > 0:27:20also seems to have been under pressure.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25This is the last will and testament of Esther Lublin,
0:27:25 > 0:27:29made in the midst of Edward's financial crisis
0:27:29 > 0:27:31when she was 36 years old.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36And what comes as a bit of a shock reading this is that it says here,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39"For many years, I and the said Edward Lublin
0:27:39 > 0:27:44"have lived separate and apart from each other by mutual consent."
0:27:47 > 0:27:52This must have been a really painful decision for the Lublins.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54The society they lived in put huge pressure
0:27:54 > 0:27:58on unhappily married couples to stay together.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02But, interestingly, at the time they separated,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05public opinion was starting to question if that was always
0:28:05 > 0:28:07the right thing to do.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Perhaps Esther and Edward knew this,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13and knew they had other options.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25I've done some more digging and discovered that Esther
0:28:25 > 0:28:28seems to have been someone who embraced new ideas.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32The archives of the Jewish Chronicle reveal that she dedicated herself
0:28:32 > 0:28:35to the education of her three daughters.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38At a time when just a few universities
0:28:38 > 0:28:40were opening up to women,
0:28:40 > 0:28:44all three went on to study at famous institutions.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49And in 1886, Esther and one of her daughters
0:28:49 > 0:28:53were even introduced to Queen Victoria at the grand opening
0:28:53 > 0:28:55of Royal Holloway College for Women.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03The more I've uncovered about Esther,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06the more exceptional she seems to me.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08I want to know what happened to her in the end.
0:29:09 > 0:29:14This document is Esther Lublin's death certificate.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16What I've discovered is something
0:29:16 > 0:29:19that I personally find really horrific.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22She died young. She died at just 44.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26And what killed her was a condition called Graves' disease.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30That's when the thyroid gland in the neck just spins out of control
0:29:30 > 0:29:32and it poisons the body.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34And, by this list of symptoms,
0:29:34 > 0:29:37Esther Lublin had this condition really badly.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40And what is horrific about this, to me,
0:29:40 > 0:29:43is that I've spent four years of my life, by chance,
0:29:43 > 0:29:44living with the same condition.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48I've had Graves' disease and I know something of the pain
0:29:48 > 0:29:51that Esther Lublin will have experienced with this condition.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54But what I can't imagine, what I don't know,
0:29:54 > 0:29:56is how frightened she was.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58Because, when I had this condition,
0:29:58 > 0:30:01the doctors could tell me that it was probably going to be OK.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04But, for her, she must have been told the opposite.
0:30:04 > 0:30:09So, to hold the death certificate of a woman who's younger at death
0:30:09 > 0:30:13than I am now, hammers home that point that we all know, in theory,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17which is that a lot of things in life are just about chance and luck.
0:30:17 > 0:30:22The reason... The reason Graves' disease killed her and spared me
0:30:22 > 0:30:25was cos that she was born in the 19th century
0:30:25 > 0:30:28and I was born in the 20th century. That's it.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34After he and Esther had separated, Edward had stayed in Liverpool.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39Living close to Falkner Street, he'd become a lodger again,
0:30:39 > 0:30:42before eventually moving back to Denmark for good.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49By now, it was the 1880s,
0:30:49 > 0:30:51and the house was going through some changes.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Widowed landlady Elizabeth Bowes had moved out and lived
0:30:57 > 0:31:00just round the corner until she left Liverpool
0:31:00 > 0:31:02to set up home with her sister.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08More buildings had been added to the street
0:31:08 > 0:31:12and the houses had been renumbered. 58 had become 62.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18Living next door were hard-working professionals -
0:31:18 > 0:31:21a French teacher, a senior policeman, a tailor.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27The house had become a single dwelling again.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32And, in 1883, new residents had just moved in.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40Alfred Robinson, aged 37, and his wife Ann, aged 32.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45They were Liverpudlian born and bred.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50According to the 1883 Gore's Directory,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52Alfred worked as a watchmaker.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57His business premises were in Church Lane.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03This is my first clue about the Robinsons.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05To find out more, I've tracked down
0:32:05 > 0:32:08one of the last watchmakers on Merseyside...
0:32:11 > 0:32:12..Jeff O'Dowd.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17- So, Alfred Robinson.- Yes.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19CLOCK CHIMES
0:32:19 > 0:32:22- I can stop that, if you want. - That's rather lovely, I think.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27The first document I've seen for Alfred Robinson describes him
0:32:27 > 0:32:30as a watchmaker living in a pretty nice house in a pretty nice part
0:32:30 > 0:32:33- of Liverpool.- Yes.- Does it look like he's doing pretty well?
0:32:33 > 0:32:35I think he's doing very well. Absolutely. I mean,
0:32:35 > 0:32:37he's in a thriving community in Liverpool.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40The demand for pocket watches at that time would have been high.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42You know, if you had a job
0:32:42 > 0:32:44and you needed to be somewhere at 12 o'clock,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47the best way to tell that is if you have your own watch,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50- your own pocket watch.- They are incredibly intricate things.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52- They are, yes. - I mean, I imagine...
0:32:52 > 0:32:55I mean, this is one I've been working on quite recently.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59So, they are very small parts
0:32:59 > 0:33:02and require a certain degree of dexterity.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06But if you handle them right, as you can see straight away,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09the watch will almost always work for you.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12So, Alfred Robinson would have known most of these tools?
0:33:12 > 0:33:14He would have known the majority of these tools, yes.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17- And used them on a daily basis? - Absolutely, yeah.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19In the records, it says that his wife,
0:33:19 > 0:33:22her job title is "watch examiner."
0:33:22 > 0:33:25Is that like quality control?
0:33:25 > 0:33:28It is like quality control, as far as I understand it.
0:33:28 > 0:33:29In fact, I have a box here...
0:33:32 > 0:33:35It's a tray from the Lancashire Watch Company.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39- And, in the back, we can see... - The components.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44On the back of it here is a label that has
0:33:44 > 0:33:46all the different assembly stages on it.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49And then the initial of the person who examined it.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51So here's the relationship between the maker and the examiner.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55The examiner. So the examiner was the last line of defence
0:33:55 > 0:33:57for the production process being correct.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00So it might have been quite cosy. There might have been Alfred
0:34:00 > 0:34:03making the watch and then putting it along for Ann to check it.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06- Yeah. Yes.- So, the future does look pretty good for them.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08I would say so. Yeah. I think they would be doing
0:34:08 > 0:34:10very well for themselves at that time.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16When they move in to 62 Falkner Street in 1883,
0:34:16 > 0:34:20life seems to be pretty rosy for the Robinsons.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23The house was easy walking distance to Alfred's business,
0:34:23 > 0:34:26just off the shopping hub of Church Street.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30According to probate records,
0:34:30 > 0:34:34he had recently inherited more than £6,000 from his father.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37That's over half a million in today's money.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43Perhaps Alfred and Ann were hoping the house would be the ideal place
0:34:43 > 0:34:44to start a family.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49But then things take an unexpected turn.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55I found this document in the archives.
0:34:55 > 0:35:01This is a divorce petition that Ann Robinson of 62 Falkner Street,
0:35:01 > 0:35:06Liverpool, submits on the 10th day of June, 1885.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10In this document, Ann claims that her husband Alfred
0:35:10 > 0:35:14had committed adultery with Alice Savage, a widow.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19And that this affair had been conducted for months
0:35:19 > 0:35:23at the Hanover Hotel, Hanover Street, Liverpool,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26and various other places in Liverpool.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31I can only guess how devastating
0:35:31 > 0:35:33it would have been to discover this affair.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38But I find it remarkable that Ann took this radical step.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44Divorce had only been available to people like her since the 1850s.
0:35:45 > 0:35:51And when she filed these papers in 1885, it was still incredibly rare.
0:35:52 > 0:35:57Ann was one of only 196 wives in the whole of England and Wales
0:35:57 > 0:36:00who tried to get a divorce that year,
0:36:00 > 0:36:03out of more than 4 million married couples.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07How did she even go about starting this process?
0:36:09 > 0:36:10Professor Rebecca Probert
0:36:10 > 0:36:14has studied thousands of Victorian divorces and is the country's
0:36:14 > 0:36:17foremost expert on the history of marriage law.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21In 1885, if your marriage has broken down
0:36:21 > 0:36:25and you want to obtain a divorce, there's just one court in England
0:36:25 > 0:36:27and Wales that has the power to grant it.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30- And that's here in London.- So, no matter where you are in the country,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33you have to come to the Royal Courts of Justice...
0:36:33 > 0:36:35- Yes, absolutely. - ..to seek a divorce.- Yes.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39And this building was very new in 1885.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41It had only been constructed a few years earlier.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45And, obviously, deliberately designed to be imposing
0:36:45 > 0:36:47and quite intimidating.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52Even today, it's not the warmest place I've ever been to.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59It's not easy to get a divorce in 1885.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03As a woman, she has to prove more than she would have to prove
0:37:03 > 0:37:05- if she was a man. So...- Right.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09..husbands can divorce wives on the basis of their adultery.
0:37:09 > 0:37:16Wives have to prove adultery plus one of cruelty, desertion, bigamy,
0:37:16 > 0:37:20incest, sodomy or bestiality.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22So, it's much more difficult
0:37:22 > 0:37:25for a woman to obtain a divorce in this period.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31Ann had clearly stated that her husband had committed adultery.
0:37:32 > 0:37:37And her petition goes on to reveal more details about their marriage.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41Ann states on the 12th day of January 1885,
0:37:41 > 0:37:44Alfred Robinson struck and assaulted her.
0:37:44 > 0:37:49That she was severely bruised, and her neck and arms were scratched.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53And then she says it happens again in March 1885,
0:37:53 > 0:37:57again in this house in 62 Falkner Street.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00That, again, she's bruised, her arms are scratched
0:38:00 > 0:38:03and that Alfred has grabbed her by the throat.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06"Severely bruised and scratched her neck."
0:38:08 > 0:38:10And that on the 30th day of May 1885,
0:38:10 > 0:38:15"The aforesaid Alfred Robinson dragged her by the hair of her head
0:38:15 > 0:38:17"and violently assaulted her."
0:38:20 > 0:38:25Middle-class domestic violence stayed firmly behind closed doors
0:38:25 > 0:38:26in Victorian society.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30But Ann was bringing it out into the open.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34Clearly, adultery and there's clearly cruelty, as well.
0:38:34 > 0:38:39- So she's got a case. - She has a case for divorce.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42And this document's full of payments, as well.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46- Yes.- So, Ann can afford to begin this process.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Well, that is an interesting point.
0:38:49 > 0:38:55Because, at this stage, it's not Ann who's paying for the divorce,
0:38:55 > 0:39:00it's Alfred. Because, traditionally, on marriage,
0:39:00 > 0:39:04any property a wife owned became her husband's.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09So, husbands had to pay the costs of their wives divorcing them.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13But you can see how quickly the costs mount up in this case.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18Even a simple divorce, costs may be £40 or £50.
0:39:18 > 0:39:23That is more than the annual wages of the majority of the population.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28Surprisingly, despite the nature of Ann's accusations,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31the court papers reveal that Alfred didn't contest
0:39:31 > 0:39:34her version of events. It looks like Ann could get a divorce
0:39:34 > 0:39:37- cos Alfred's not going to pretend this hasn't happened.- Yes.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39- Absolutely.- So, do we know what happens,
0:39:39 > 0:39:41do the documents tell us that?
0:39:41 > 0:39:45Well, they tell us that...
0:39:45 > 0:39:49..upon hearing the solicitor for the petition,
0:39:49 > 0:39:52the judge orders that the proceedings be discontinued.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55- Discontinued?- Yeah.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57It doesn't go to trial.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02But we don't know why it's discontinued.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07Because it does seem odd that it's undefended,
0:40:07 > 0:40:09there seems no obvious reason.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11It seems hard to imagine they reconciled.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13I don't know why I find that difficult.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15They were obviously a lot more forgiving people
0:40:15 > 0:40:18in the 19th century than I can imagine.
0:40:18 > 0:40:20Either a lot more forgiving or just fewer options.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22I suppose so, that's the other thing.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26The economic options of divorce mean that reconciliation might not be
0:40:26 > 0:40:28about an emotional reconciliation but a...
0:40:28 > 0:40:29"What else am I going to do?"
0:40:29 > 0:40:33It's a financial calculation, in a number of cases, I imagine.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36So, Ann and Alfred might be back together
0:40:36 > 0:40:40because Ann's got no property, she's got nowhere to go.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43Yeah. The professions aren't open to women at this period.
0:40:43 > 0:40:49There's a limited range of, sort of, more manual jobs that she can do.
0:40:49 > 0:40:50So it's poverty,
0:40:50 > 0:40:53- or stay with a man who's been violent towards you?- Yeah.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08To try to find out what happened to Alfred and Ann,
0:41:08 > 0:41:12I've called up a copy of the census from the year 1891.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17So, five years after Ann's divorce petition was discontinued.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20And what it reveals is that they are still together.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23They're still married and they're still living on Falkner Street.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27But, more than that, they have two children.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31Sarah, who's five, and Alice, who's just three.
0:41:32 > 0:41:38It does seem that there has been some form of reconciliation,
0:41:38 > 0:41:42and perhaps they have given their marriage a second chance
0:41:42 > 0:41:45and gone on to have a family.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53So, after a really horrible, unpleasant divorce,
0:41:53 > 0:41:55abuse, violence,
0:41:55 > 0:41:57this does seem like a second act
0:41:57 > 0:41:59in their lives, and maybe a happier one.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04The census suggests that their eldest child Sarah
0:42:04 > 0:42:08might have been born soon after the divorce proceedings.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15This document is the birth certificate of the older of the two
0:42:15 > 0:42:18children who's recorded as living here in Falkner Street
0:42:18 > 0:42:21in the census. Her name is Sarah Frances.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25And under the column for father is Alfred Robinson.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27Occupation, watchmaker.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31But in the column for mother, the name that appears
0:42:31 > 0:42:33is not that of Ann Robinson.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36The name is Alice Adeline Brown.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40And the birth certificate of the younger of the two children,
0:42:40 > 0:42:41again, a girl,
0:42:41 > 0:42:47her name is Alice and her mother again is Alice Adeline Brown.
0:42:49 > 0:42:54The certificates shows that Alice Brown is actually Alice Savage,
0:42:54 > 0:42:58the woman who was named as Alfred's mistress in the divorce petition.
0:42:59 > 0:43:01And that she died.
0:43:03 > 0:43:08Other records reveal she passed away just five weeks after
0:43:08 > 0:43:10the second baby was born.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18Alice's sudden death means that these two children
0:43:18 > 0:43:21have nothing other than their father.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25And that is the terrible set of circumstances that leads to
0:43:25 > 0:43:28them being brought into this house
0:43:28 > 0:43:32to live with Alfred and his real wife, Ann.
0:43:44 > 0:43:50I have to admit, I am struggling to even imagine what took place
0:43:50 > 0:43:53in this house in those years in the 1880s.
0:43:53 > 0:43:54Because, at some point,
0:43:54 > 0:43:58Alfred Robinson would have had to have walked through that front door
0:43:58 > 0:44:01with his two illegitimate children.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04A little girl of two and a baby in his arms.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08And he was bringing them to live in the family home,
0:44:08 > 0:44:12in the marital home. What on earth could he have said?
0:44:12 > 0:44:16What on earth DID he say to his wife Ann at that moment?
0:44:19 > 0:44:23Whatever he said, the girls and Ann did end up living together.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28But probably not for long in 62 Falkner Street.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34The Robinsons moved out of the house and set up home just next door
0:44:34 > 0:44:36at number 64.
0:44:39 > 0:44:44As far as we know, they lived here as a family for the next five years.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49But then, Alfred disappears from the street directories.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53This is Alfred Robinson's death certificate.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56He was just 46. And his two daughters were still young -
0:44:56 > 0:45:00six and eight. But after that, the information
0:45:00 > 0:45:04on this death certificate becomes really confusing.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07We only know it refers to Alfred because of a scribbled note
0:45:07 > 0:45:13in the margin. Where his name should be it says, "A man unknown."
0:45:14 > 0:45:16And, for cause of death, it reads,
0:45:16 > 0:45:20"Found dead on the cattle slip of Bramley Moore Dock.
0:45:20 > 0:45:21"Died from drowning.
0:45:21 > 0:45:27"But there's insufficient evidence to show how he got into the water."
0:45:27 > 0:45:30This is a document that raises far more questions than it answers.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36For a start, I don't know how this mystery body
0:45:36 > 0:45:39was even identified as Alfred.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43But there's one man who might be able to help.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46Retired detective superintendent Albert Kirby
0:45:46 > 0:45:49worked for Merseyside Police for 34 years
0:45:49 > 0:45:52and knows the docks like the back of his hand.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56He's got an article from the Liverpool Courier
0:45:56 > 0:46:00which appeared a few days after the body was pulled from the Mersey.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04The deceased was 5'6",
0:46:04 > 0:46:07proportionate build, dark hair,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10whiskers and moustache.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13He was wearing a black cloth-ribbed suit,
0:46:13 > 0:46:18black tie and yellow Merino socks, quite stylish.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23But the crucial information found on the body was this piece of paper -
0:46:23 > 0:46:27part of an envelope with the name A. Robinson.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30- So his wife might have read this newspaper report?- Could well have.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33- And then that would have led to his identification.- Yeah.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36So we know how the police worked out,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39or we can guess how the police worked out it was Alfred.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42- But they still don't know what's happened.- No, no.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45- And that's...- That's the mystery. - That's the mystery.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50As a watchmaker,
0:46:50 > 0:46:54it's plausible that Alfred would go to the docks for work.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Ships' masters were reliable customers,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01dependent on accurate timekeeping for navigation at sea.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05Every day the one o'clock cannon was fired at the docks
0:47:05 > 0:47:07for the ships to set their time by.
0:47:07 > 0:47:09CANNON FIRES
0:47:10 > 0:47:14But I wonder if there might have been another reason
0:47:14 > 0:47:15he came down here.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19It feels like a place you go to be alone.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22Maybe if you were feeling depressed.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25Yeah, when you look around here now, it's just pure dereliction.
0:47:25 > 0:47:30But all this lot here was just absolutely bustling with activity.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34You have the cattle coming in,
0:47:34 > 0:47:38the Bramley-Moore Dock was where all the coal was coming in.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42It was just intense, the amount of work that was being done here.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44It was just bustling.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48So rather than being a melancholy place where you come to be alone,
0:47:48 > 0:47:51this is a busy place and therefore a dangerous place?
0:47:51 > 0:47:55It is dangerous because you can see where we are here now, can't you?
0:47:55 > 0:47:58There's no protection along here now even.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02- It's very easy to see how you'd fall in.- It is.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Like you, I feel giddy looking down there.
0:48:05 > 0:48:07We don't know what his motivations are
0:48:07 > 0:48:10but everything that you've learned as a detective
0:48:10 > 0:48:14tells you this was a tragic accident rather than a suicide?
0:48:14 > 0:48:17This place around here, and any docks,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20was just a recipe for disaster and accidents.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24And I think that that's probably what's happened to him.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26He's come down here
0:48:26 > 0:48:29and his death has been a dreadful, dreadful accident.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32I suppose, what you have to hope, is that...
0:48:32 > 0:48:36..the bond that we hope has developed between Alfred's wife
0:48:36 > 0:48:39and his illegitimate daughters is strong enough
0:48:39 > 0:48:41to survive his passing.
0:48:41 > 0:48:42It's a strange family.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44It's not the ideal situation.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47But I guess I'm hoping that they've managed, despite all of this,
0:48:47 > 0:48:51to form a bond that's going to keep them together now they're on their own,
0:48:51 > 0:48:54even though Alfred wasn't there to provide for them.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56I'd like to think that, as well.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05Frustratingly, the records can't tell us for certain
0:49:05 > 0:49:07what happened to Ann and the girls.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11But I think Ann was courageous.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14A pioneer of the divorce courts.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18And I hope this courage stood her in good stead.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25While all this was unfolding next door,
0:49:25 > 0:49:2962 Falkner Street was transforming once again.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33A new landlady had taken over - Catherine Robertson.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36She'd carved the house into rented rooms again
0:49:36 > 0:49:40and, in 1889, a new lodger had moved in.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42Nathan Hart.
0:49:44 > 0:49:48Nathan was a widower in his early 60s with no children.
0:49:48 > 0:49:52He was Jewish, born and bred in London's East End.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56He'd been in Liverpool for many years.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59He worked as an emigrants' outfitter.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04In the late 1880s, thousands of people from across Europe
0:50:04 > 0:50:07and the UK were passing through Liverpool
0:50:07 > 0:50:11on their way to new lives in North America.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16Nathan made his living selling these emigrants everything they might need
0:50:16 > 0:50:19for their adventure, including tickets to make the crossing
0:50:19 > 0:50:23on ships like the SS Great Britain, now in Bristol.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29Nathan was a big player in this business.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34To understand his world, I'm meeting Dr Nick Evans,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37a leading expert on migration in the 19th century.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Nathan would have distributed these emigrant guides to his customers
0:50:42 > 0:50:44to take away with them.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46It's the type of information they needed.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49What the new state-of-the-art vessel would have looked like
0:50:49 > 0:50:50with steam and with sails,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53but also what the trains in America would look like.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57So, if there was an onward journey from New York to the interior of America, to the west,
0:50:57 > 0:51:00then you would know exactly what information was provided.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06As well as selling tickets, Nathan also sold equipment
0:51:06 > 0:51:10that emigrants would need to take with them, from clothes to tools.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12Hart would make a lot of money.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15He was actually quite affluent in his earnings.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19But there's an inherent moral hazard in this profession
0:51:19 > 0:51:22because the man who's advising you what to take
0:51:22 > 0:51:24is also the bloke who's selling it to you.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28Yeah. And you could infer that there was some duplicity there
0:51:28 > 0:51:30or there was some often underhand activity.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34And certainly one newspaper from the time does paint a different picture.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38If you see here, it's a charge against an outfitter.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41"Nathan Hart, an outfitter of the emigrant area
0:51:41 > 0:51:43"of Waterloo Road in Liverpool,
0:51:43 > 0:51:45"was charged by an intending Irish emigrant
0:51:45 > 0:51:48"of robbing her of nine shillings."
0:51:48 > 0:51:52So this is Nathan in the newspapers being accused of doing over, really,
0:51:52 > 0:51:54somebody who's supposed to be a customer.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58Yeah, but it's not as straightforward as it might seem.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01We don't know if the accuser was actually a reputable individual.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04Emigrants could be convicts themselves.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06They could be unscrupulous people.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08And at other times newspaper accounts from the period
0:52:08 > 0:52:11show how he was the victim of crime. People stole from him.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15So it was a very dangerous and volatile business.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19Emigrant outfitting was a seasonal job.
0:52:19 > 0:52:24Nathan's customers chose mainly to travel in the spring and summer,
0:52:24 > 0:52:27when the Atlantic shipping lanes were free of ice floes.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31It seems that the rest of the year he may have had to find other ways
0:52:31 > 0:52:33of making money.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37Ways that sometimes brought him into contact with the law.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41A few years before he moved into the house,
0:52:41 > 0:52:45Nathan was accused of running an illegal gambling den.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49According to the police, young men were using his shop
0:52:49 > 0:52:53to place bets on horse races, like those at nearby Aintree.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56On that occasion, Nathan escaped punishment.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01Every spring, his outfitting business picked up again
0:53:01 > 0:53:04when the year's first wave of travellers
0:53:04 > 0:53:07piled into the docks in preparation for their journey.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11The conditions on the passage were diabolical.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15- Not much room here. - Precisely, not much room at all.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19The top bunk was more desirable because if you vomited over here,
0:53:19 > 0:53:21you can reach the floor.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24For the person below, reaching out being seasick,
0:53:24 > 0:53:27they had the risk of you vomiting on top of them.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29So it was these really awful conditions
0:53:29 > 0:53:31in which people would have been transported.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33It was very cramped, you can see.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35Very cramped indeed.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38People complain about the conditions.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41When they went to people like Hart, they would have actually been told
0:53:41 > 0:53:44this is the berth you would have been allocated.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47But, actually, the maps, the sales literature at the time
0:53:47 > 0:53:49doesn't reveal there's a bunk on top of you.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52So they thought they'd got this area of space.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55- They thought they had some privacy. - They thought they had some privacy,
0:53:55 > 0:53:58and, as you can see, there is nowhere where there is privacy.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02So people like Nathan Hart are trying to make this sound
0:54:02 > 0:54:04as good as they can,
0:54:04 > 0:54:07to encourage people to take that leap and emigrate.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10Yeah, they've got to sell, effectively, the space of a coffin
0:54:10 > 0:54:13in which you're going to travel for some three or four weeks
0:54:13 > 0:54:15to cross the Atlantic.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24As the 1880s came to a close, Nathan was doing well.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27Several hundred emigrants were leaving Liverpool every day.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32Hi-tech steamships were smashing the speed records,
0:54:32 > 0:54:34but this ever-more connected world
0:54:34 > 0:54:38was creating dangerous openings for an old enemy.
0:54:39 > 0:54:44I've got an article here from the Liverpool Mercury from August 1892
0:54:44 > 0:54:47and it's a report of an outbreak of cholera.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49The disease had been found in New York
0:54:49 > 0:54:52and it's been traced back to the German port of Hamburg,
0:54:52 > 0:54:54where 8,500 people have died.
0:54:54 > 0:54:57And what this epidemic does is effectively shut down
0:54:57 > 0:54:59transatlantic emigration.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03And the port of New York just stops - halts all immigration.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10What that means is that if you are in the emigrant outfitting business,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13this epidemic is potentially a disaster.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18Nathan would need all his entrepreneurial spirit
0:55:18 > 0:55:20to get through this crisis.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25Two years later, in the Gore's Directory of 1894,
0:55:25 > 0:55:29he is listed as having not one but two new professions.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34He is Nathan Hart, financial agent, and Nathan Hart, picture dealer.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36He has diversified.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38He's got out of emigrant outfitting
0:55:38 > 0:55:42and into financial services and the art world.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50To me, this seems to be classic Nathan.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52Fearless and enterprising.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56At the age of 65, he'd spotted a new opportunity and gone for it.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02In the late 19th century, there was a huge and growing appetite for art.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06Many new public galleries opened at this time,
0:56:06 > 0:56:08including Liverpool's Walker Gallery,
0:56:08 > 0:56:10which is still going strong today.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14A private market for art was also growing fast.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18Nathan appears to have been active in this world.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22We know this because three years after he launched his new venture,
0:56:22 > 0:56:27he died, and left behind him an inventory of artwork and antiques.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31This document lists the collection of oil paintings,
0:56:31 > 0:56:33watercolours, drawings, clocks,
0:56:33 > 0:56:35presentation plates and jewellery
0:56:35 > 0:56:37that were in Nathan Hart's possession
0:56:37 > 0:56:39at the time that he died.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44Among his paintings was at least one by William Etty.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48Although today Etty is regarded as one of the first
0:56:48 > 0:56:50significant British painters of nudes,
0:56:50 > 0:56:55in the late 19th century his work was seen by many as scandalous.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59Nevertheless, there were still buyers for Etty's paintings,
0:56:59 > 0:57:02and perhaps Nathan knew where to find them.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07His instincts didn't let him down because he died a wealthy man,
0:57:07 > 0:57:11leaving over £200,000 in today's money
0:57:11 > 0:57:15and bequeathing to his synagogue a scholarship for studious boys.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20He was able, through the scholarship he funded,
0:57:20 > 0:57:23to ensure that his memory lived on.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26And I think if you're going to look for a reason why Nathan Hart
0:57:26 > 0:57:28was so successful, why he made so much money,
0:57:28 > 0:57:31it would have to be adaptability.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34He was a businessman who was constantly reshaping
0:57:34 > 0:57:36and reimagining his business,
0:57:36 > 0:57:39changing it to find new ways of making money.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42And that's why his story is so perfectly fitting
0:57:42 > 0:57:44to the story of Liverpool.
0:57:45 > 0:57:49Because, more than any of the residents of 62 Falkner Street
0:57:49 > 0:57:53that we've met so far, he was a man who made the most
0:57:53 > 0:57:55of being in Liverpool,
0:57:55 > 0:57:59who made the most of being in the greatest port in the world.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08Next time, the residents of 62 Falkner Street
0:58:08 > 0:58:11are threatened by technological revolution.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14"We have nothing at all to fear from motor carriage."
0:58:16 > 0:58:21And two World Wars change Liverpool and the house forever.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24The bombs fell right here.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27Our house is metres away from being destroyed.